Do you lie to friends?

[thir]

Sorry about the late answer, our IT conection dropped - for 11 days!!

I will... later. Thorne's example works too.
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But I have a better example. How about this direct (white or otherwise) lie?

You wake up with a headache. Feel awful. Go to work anyway because you have an important meeting, let's say, with a new client of some sort. New client greets you and asks the obligatory "How are you today?"

Do you tell him? Say nothing? Or do you say "Fine, and you?"

This is a little tricky for me, because in my culture we never ask 'how are you' as a greeting, and I have to guess a little here.

It is my impression that "how are you" is a greeting similar to 'goddag' (good day) a culturally consensus of how to greet someone politely. Not meant as an actual question about your life or well being.

So I'd say you simply say 'fine, and you?' not expecting the other to actually tell you how they are either.

[leo9]

This is a little tricky for me, because in my culture we never ask 'how are you' as a greeting, and I have to guess a little here.

It is my impression that "how are you" is a greeting similar to 'goddag' (good day) a culturally consensus of how to greet someone politely. Not meant as an actual question about your life or well being.

I think it was the American poet Ogden Nash who wrote:
Don't tell your friends about your indigestion.
"How are you" is a greeting, not a question.